I defy anyone to take the Hawk Walk, making your way between two long rows of raptors, at the National Bird of Prey Centre in Gloucester and not be reduced to awed silence by the experience. And that's before you embark on the day proper and learn to fly the things.

I suspect that the day begins with this walk so that attendees can get the measure of the place, and the staff can get the measure of the attendees. This is not the place for frenetic adrenaline junkies. The centre works to the birds' pace and they deliver their excitements according to whim. If it's noisy and immediate gratification you're after, I would suggest a car racetrack or bungee jumping weekend, not an afternoon of handling birds of prey, which offer a quieter and altogether more profound pleasure.

On the right there are American kestrels, native red kites, goshawks, sparrowhawks, saker and gyr falcons, lanners and peregrines, sitting tethered to blocks and each fixing you with a gimlet eye and giving the occasional styptic blink. At the end, there is a group of harris hawks, talons curving tightly round their perches and looking at you with disdain.

When you look to your left, however, you realise what disdain really means. For gazing at you there are the eagles. A bateleur eagle, whose scientific name Terathopius ecaudatus roughly translates as "marvellous face, no tail" (which about sums it up), is flanked by an African fish eagle and a white-tailed sea eagle from Kazakhstan. And then, finally, there is the bald eagle. You could try to imagine a more truly majestic and altogether gobsmacking sight but you would not, I assure you, succeed. She is breathtaking.

Once Mat, my guide for the day, has introduced me to the birds, we join the other customers in the demonstration field to watch various birds being flown. The bateleur is an elegant acrobat, wheeling and banking 1,000 metres above us, and a lanner falcon and red kite describe similarly graceful arcs and parabolas as they circle Mat and stoop to the lure. The burrowing owl, by contrast, is a 10-inch ball of feathers that hops along the ground, disappears into pipes laid through hillocks and emerges triumphantly on the other side. It is impossible to describe how hilarious this is, but I and several small children fall off the bench laughing.

Then it's over to the harris hawks to learn how to handle the birds safely. Cirrus steps quite happily on to my leather gauntleted fist and remains there unperturbed as I walk, gingerly at first and then more confidently around with him. He is startlingly light - although this is perhaps only startling, I realise, because my previous exposure to birds is solely in carrying home lumps of dead chicken from Sainsbury's. A chastening thought. I'm glad I'm out of the eagles' sight.

We step into the field to fly Cirrus. "Just throw him off," says Mat. So I do. The hawk flies off, settles briefly in a tree while Mat lays a tasty morsel of raw chicken on my glove, then I extend my arm and the hawk flies swiftly on to my fist. Watching him coming in to land is wonderful. He flies almost silently but comes in at such a speed that I brace myself for the impact. He lands with barely a bump. The power, grace and delicacy of it all makes you suddenly aware of what a lumpen piece of work is man. Later, Mat teaches me (as best he can, given my utter lack of coordination) to swing the baited lure, so that the bird swoops past, circles round and comes back to try again, which makes me feel quite the proper falconer.

I watch another demonstration which includes a Magellan's eagle owl, which refuses to do anything but fly from one fencepost to another, the fabulous secretary bird which looks like a gawky teenager with daft jiggly headfeathers right up until the moment it starts stomping a (fake) snake to death for dinner, and finally "the pocket rocket" - a peregrine-merlin hybrid that flies at around 180mph and draws gasps of admiration from us all.

The day culminates in a chance to hold the bald eagle. Holding 12 pounds of eagle on my fist, with a face so noble and savage that I feel I should apologise for breathing the same air as her, is an amazing experience, of course, but for me the best part of the whole day came while learning to swing the lure. The first time I succeeded in getting the hawk to swoop past was simply a fantastic moment. It must have shown on my face because Mat grinned and shouted over, "How does it feel?" I didn't want to sound like a sentimental fool, so I just grinned back and swung the lure again. But what I wanted to say was that it feels like a privilege.

Standing in the Gloucestershire countryside as the hawk slices through the air towards you, so immaculately, so effortlessly, it feels like you are suddenly cutting through 1,000 years of history. And in fact a line from a children's book I must have read 20 years ago suddenly pops into my head. In the book, a boy, Patrick, has lent his merlin to a girl for use in a Christmas performance in the local minster (it's a fairly old-fashioned tale) and when it appears, he is struck by the bird representing "not only the whole grim order of raptors, but also the enduring sport of falconry itself, a sport so old and changeless that given a common tongue, he, Patrick, could have talked shop with the falconers of King Nebuchadnezzar."

And I will take that extraordinary feeling of timelessness, however fleeting, over an ordinary adrenaline rush any day. The memory will thrill forever.

Falconry

Thrill rating 7/10

Danger rating 3/10

Fitness rating 3/10

In a nutshell ...

A chance to interact with, and gain the trust of, some of the most powerful and magnificent (not to mention downright fast) creatures on the planet. Falconry courses range from taster days to week-long intensive courses; they will enable you to watch these birds of prey as they feed, learn to lure them to land on your special glove, and study many rare species right up close - from the peregrine falcon (reputedly the world's fastest bird) to the awe-inspiring golden eagle, with many an owl and hawk in between.

What's the buzz?

"Our one-day course is attended by people who want to handle a bird and see creatures they don't normally see, like snowy owls," says Barry Gibbs of the Sussex Falconry Centre. "People think owls only fly at night but that's not true; at our centre you can see the European eagle owl - which is a metre tall - swooping in at 15 to 20mph to land on your glove."

You'll also learn to respect the raw power of these creatures; after all, if you upset a bird and it clenches its claw, your arm will crunch underneath in pain. So best behaviour, please! Watching the birds catch their food is a real spectacle, too - the big birds like eagles can easily swallow vermin, mice and even foxes.

Thrill a minute?

Even a complete novice will have received a bird on their glove and learned how to "cast off" again by the end of Sussex Falconry's one-day course. And if you like the experience, you can take it further by doing a four-day course that will even earn you a certificate.

As well as its single-day hawking, falcon and owl experiences, the National Birds of Prey Centre in Gloucestershire offers an intensive five-day course, teaching you everything from the care and management of birds to flying them in different weather environments.

Adrenaline peak

Learning to train and fly the European eagle owl, the world's largest owl with a 2.5-metre wingspan - or "the Ferrari of the sky", the peregrine falcon, which can reach speeds approaching 200mph during a dive for prey. The top speed of a Ferrari, in fact.

Where to do it

The Sussex Falconry Centre, near Chichester Marina, has more than an acre of land and a flying section surrounded by aviaries. The National Birds of Prey Centre in Newent is home to no less than 170 birds of prey, including 25 species of owl and 22 species of eagle, hawk and falcon.

Who can do it

You need to be able to balance the weight of a bird on your arm, so most centres only allow children aged 12 and upwards.

What to take

Outdoor clothing and decent walking shoes because you'll be on a field or farm.

Typical prices

A five-day falconry course at the Birds of Prey Centre costs £450 per person. At the Sussex Falconry centre, the half-day courses are £95, full days cost £129.

Impress your pals

Henry VIII was, among many other things, mad keen on falconry, and is said to have owned 100 albino falcons. Rather ironically for an owner who found it, shall we say, a little tricky to settle down with one partner, a pair of falcons may mate for life - perhaps that's what Henry admired about them.